Second Christmas

This is the second Christmas with our wonderful rescue Kai. She did not try to eat the lights this year or the ornaments, though she did nose a few. She also liked to sleep under the tree. Her first present this year came from the dog up the street. Lexi is part beagle and I am not sure what else, but she is a puppy. She passes the gate all the time and wants to play with Kai, but the owners are nervous because Kai growls when Lexi jumps on her face. Anyway, she gave Kai some treats and a picture of herself. Kai wrote a thank you and gave Lexi some treats as well. I thought it was a cute idea.
Before Christmas day we were visited by relatives who came with two children that loved on Kai. By the time they left Miss Kai was exhausted and laid about the house all Christmas Eve, not even bugging us when we ate dinner. A very tired girl from playing with kids for two days. I am not sure but I think she was worried about all the activity around the house, she likes her down time.
Christmas morning brought presents once again for Kai, some chewies and a stuffed gingerbread toy, which she laid with on the chair. Once again she was excited about the days events, helping us open presents, chewing up her sticks and running around the back yard. Her stuffed gingerbread man lasted until today without her pulling out the squeaky part of the toy. Now the stuffing is sticking out of the belly and I am sure by the end of the week it will look like it has snowed fluff all over the house. It has been a very Merry Christmas indeed.

MY shadow

Kai has been my little shadow the last few days. I have been sick with a lovingly call the creeping crud. It started with a throat ache that the doctor said was one of the worst he has seen in redness. Then it crept up to my nose and head. Kai has followed me around laying down with me every time I do and getting up and checking me out every time I sneeze, blow my nose or just cough. I have been waiting for her to put her paw on my forehead to check for a fever. Anyway, now that my husband is home for the weekend, she has been following him around, more lively than her sick momma, plus he has been cooking. Go where the food is.

Kai the Bee Dog

That is going to be the title of my book. Once again Kai's behavior has me perplexed until ouch I sat on a bee. I had been out feeding the bees sugar water, which is a precarious thing to do, because in the fall you are taking away a food source. So I managed to get the bottles of sugar water into the house, filled and then back to the hive. I had donned my bee suit top and gloves, but I was wearing black pants. Bees do not like black it is an instinct about bears. Anyway I thought I had got away unscathed but as I went into the living room Kai went ballistic, grabbing at my pant leg, sniffing at me, just in a panic. So I asked, yes I ask my dog questions, "Is there a bee on me, where is it girl?"
Apparently it was crawling on my pants, so when I sat down, it did not initially sting me, but when I moved to check where it was, I found it. Or it found me and stung me right in the butt. I went into the bathroom and Kai was still going crazy, then I heard the buzz, so Kai and I left the bathroom. I shut the door and Kai ran to her crate and got inside.

The bee must have crawled out from under the door, because before long I found Kai trying to chew something. It was the dying bee. I picked it up with a tissue and put it outside. Kai was then a nervous Nelly, she kept looking over her back for bees. Eventually, she quieted down. The next time she starts pulling at my pants I am going to be sure not to sit down, until I have checked myself over.

DOG DAYS OF FALL

Okay, I know it is suppose to be the dog days of summer and that it means it is so hot you cannot do anything but melt. However, we have had 5 days of rain, luckily right now the sun is shining and I will have to take moping girl for a walk. We tried to walk yesterday and got caught in a downpour. This meant hiding under trees as the band of heavy rain passed by. We were both happy to get indoors when I cut the walk short. Five days of moping around the house, the dog and myself. She would curl up next to me, unheard of, whenever she got the chance. She would not even play fetch in the house. The only positive thing to her day was the fact that my son was home for Fall break, so she got to play wrestle-mania with him and not me. But now he is back at school and it is up to me to play. We did however, get a game of indoor fetch done, I will have to take her for a walk soon, so she knows that I love her.

Awakened by dog breath

My husband had a test on Tuesday, or so he thought, so I got made breakfast at 5:30 in the morning to find out he had the wrong day, it was today. So after making breakfast I went back to bed. Around 6:45 am I felt like someone was staring at me and felt breath on my cheek. I opened my eyes and encountered my dog who had escaped the kitchen, entered the bedroom and was now standing over me. Upon opening my eyes, I got a face washing. Very interesting way to be woken up. Then she just curled up near my tummy and went back to sleep, so I also shut my eyes for a few minutes, like hitting the snooze alarm. After 5 minutes we both got up, it was time to start the day, plus I think she was hungry. Today no wake up call from my dog, but plenty of hugs and kisses when I came into the kitchen. She is such a sweetie, but I do not think I could sleep with her all night, she would drive me crazy. I have a feeling we would be pounced on all night long, then I would be awake and she would be curl in a ball somewhere and go back to sleep.

Bumper

It used to be the only time that Kai bumped you was when we were eating. Then she would walk up to you and hit you with her nose until you either fed her or shooed her away. If you did not feed her then her next line of attack would be with her teeth, chewing on your elbow. She has not done this for some time, so I was surprised when she did it this morning. I did not have food. I felt like I was being circled by a shark. I was sitting at the computer going through e-mail when bump in my side. She then circled around me, and bumped me again. When she caught my attention then she came up and bumped me three more times. So I asked her "Do you need to go out?" She promptly ran to the door. I have been trying to not have her bark when she needs to go out, I guess she has decided to use the nose bump to let me know it is time. It was very funny, especially the circling around like a shark. At least she did not take a chunk out of me and drag me down to the floor.

When she plays with her toys she is like an alligator, rolling over and over with it in her mouth, or rolling over top of it. All these water creature like behaviors in a dog who hates water, except river water. Maybe she is part gator or shark.

Miss Barker

I am going nuts with Kai's barking. I think it is because I am not outside playing with her. There is a barking chain, first the schnauzer, Parker, and finally Kai, which starts another round up the street, but Kai maintains this bark. Now she is barking whenever some one walks pass the gate with a dog, no dog, no bark. And if the other dog has the audacity to bark back, then we go into the I am going to sound like I am going to tear your face off game, from both sides. I need to get Kai back to the dog park. She loves other dogs, but not when they are walking and she is stuck behind a gate. Even her little puppy friend is not immune when on the other side of the fence. I am sure that dogs parents will not let their dog into the fence again, with the way Kai sounds.

I won't let her out if she is barking from inside the house and have a water bottle on hand just in case I cannot get her to stop. When she is outside barking she rarely listens to me. So hose, or bark collar?

New Friend

Kai made a new friend and it is in the form of the cutest puppy. Lexi lives up the street and belongs to a boy who passes our house everyday. Well, now they pass with a new puppy. This family was the  first family to greet Kai when she came to live with us a year and 1/2 ago. They fell in love with her, which is why I think they went a got a rescue puppy for themselves.

Last night after our walk we ran into Lexi and her adopted family who were also out on a walk. We invited them in so the two dogs could play together without leashes in out fenced backyard. Kai was so gentle with this puppy who weighs 7 lbs to Kai's 30 lbs. They chased each other and Kai even let Lexi drink from her water bowl and play with her chew toy. Kai was the picture of the patient pooch. Now she knows what it feels to have a dog jump on your face.

Kai also meet several of her other doggy pals on this walk, but none as cute as her with this puppy. Now I know if I were to get another dog, not saying I will, she would be okay. I just loved watching them play.

Dog Days

We are having some sad days, to go along with the weather changes. I was so enjoying the cool weather walking, but Kai gets so beat (okay, I am blaming this on Kai) that we are only  doing short walks. I am not sure what is going to happen if I get a job. She is going to be so heart broken about not getting her morning walk. Today we missed a perfectly good morning because I had planned on cleaning house and just got too busy. Then is was 12 and too humid. I think I will take her down to the river later today, just to get some time in outside of the house.
   
I know that she is bored because I found the inside of my slipper in the living room. I did not know where the other part was until I sat down with a cup of coffee and she came tearing around the corner with it in her mouth. She loves to stop just in front of me but far enough away that I have to move to get whatever she has in her mouth back. Then it is off to the races. We MUST walk, walk, walk.

Mistaken Identity

Kai and I have not been on a walk in ages, so I had to get out of the house and get both of us moving. The first block I thought okay, I do not need that arm. It is a good thing I know that she is going to pull hard the first few minutes of being released from the yard. She finally calmed down about two blocks into the walk and we had no more pulls. But just when I thought she was going to behave, she comes to a dead stop, no matter how hard I pulled or how many times I said come, she was not moving. So I looked to where her nose was pointing, up on a porch was a statue of a dog. It was of about her size but looked like a St. Bernard. Kai just stood there cocking her head. I  am pretty sure Kai was thinking: if I was out on the porch without a leash I would chase after a dog standing in my yard. I think Kai wanted the dog to do something, instead of standing there "looking" at her. I finally convinced Kai to keep on moving, but she kept looking back at the dog on the porch. We have passed this house on numerous occasions but I think she was always sniffing the ground and had never seen the dog on the porch. I wonder if she will remember this the next time we are walking.

Right after that encounter she meet another dog, this one was full of playful energy and Kai I think was relieved that the dog actually acted like a dog. That was our drama for the day, we finally made it home and Kai opened the door, drank some water and went to sleep.

On the mend

Finally I think my Kai is on the mend. She recently went through a stomach ache that kept me up for a couple of days. Chicken and rice and nothing else for about a week. Today I started adding back some food. I hope that it is not the food I have been feeding her as I recently changed it from Nutro to Pedigree and Rachel Ray. But I think it is more likely that she ate something outside or engulfed something from around the house. Her favorite thing is to grab something of mine, like socks, and try to eat them or get me to chase her. I also, had to get rubber bands out of her mouth and a couple of bills. I do not think the electric company would appreciate the "My dog ate it," excuse.

She was very active last night running around the house flipping up rugs and just being a general nuisance. I prefer this actually, because the flopped ear, tail down, look of misery on her face, just makes me feel sad. Now after seeing her human brother off to college, she is resting. I am sure though by the time I want to rest she will be flying around the house. She always needs to get that 7 to 8 PM energy out. Last night after running around forever, she disappeared. When I found her she was in her crate fast asleep, maybe not too energized yet.

New tricks, bad tricks, almost sad trick.

I think that I finally taught Kai a new trick. I have been asking for Kai's paw since we got her. Usually I grab her paw when I ask, this is met by her trying to grab my hand with her mouth. But yesterday as I when I said "paw" and put my hand down, she actually did it. I requested this action a couple of more times and she repeated putting her paw in my hand. So of course I had to run and get her a treat, because I was not expecting her to do it. YEAH

So what is the bad trick, chasing the animals from the bird feeder. I really do not mind that she chases the squirrels because they are little piggies. But she barks at them through the door, which chases all the birds away. Then she goes outside waits until all the birds have come back, landed on the feeder and the ground, where upon she rushes them so that they fly in all directions. She can remain very quiet, laying just out of sight. I think she gets thrilled with the flapping of wings.

Now the almost sad trick, apparently when she chased a group of birds one got stuck in a plant. I looked out the window to see Kai circling a heuchera plant. I went out and did not see anything. Then she started bouncing on the plant, I thought she had cornered a mole or a small chipmunk I just could not see. I told her to leave it and she sat, but did not back away. When I turned, she went right back to smacking the bush with her paw, then I heard the chirp. I went back, chased Kai from her spot and saw and upside down bird, the chest was the color of the dirt, so I missed it the first time. I called for my husband, I grabbed Kai put her inside and we both went out to see what we could do. Apparently, it's claw was stuck around a couple of branches and it had got itself upside down and could not get up. My husband, carefully started moving the plant, amid chirps of terror, and the bird was able to get loose and fly away. I am glad I was alerted to the bird by Kai, but I am equally glad I happen to be by the window observing Kais odd behavior. Not a good trick playing smack the birdie.

Slug dog

Yesterday Kai became a slug. I took her for a walk around eight in the morning and my daughter took her for a run around 11:30 am. She did not go on a big run, but my daughter said that she looked so tired that she decided to bring her home. I was gone for about two hours but when I came home Kai greeted me at the door. I was told that was the first she moved after her run. As my daughter was doing computer work for her Master's Kai laid down on the floor beside her and slept. She did not really move until after dinner, and that was because we ordered a pizza for the first time in several months. She loves to eat the leftover crust and managed to bug us until we gave in. Then after we were finished she decided that we took up to much space and would not sit with us while we watched TV. In actuality I was in what she deems her seat and would not come into the room until I moved, at which point she stole my seat. Lovely dog.

Summer 2014.

Kai's adventures so far this summer:
1. Lazy slug whenever it gets to 90 degrees, you can find Kai inside, on her favorite chair lounging.
2. Walking in morning and some evenings, depending on when her owner, me, feels like braving the heat.
3. Boarding while the family was away. Went to pick her up and she wanted to go back inside. I am pretty sure it had nothing to do with the weather and everything to do with her desire to play with the other dogs.
4. Brought home from boarding, escaping out of gate causing a merry chase. I chased her up a hill, which I could walk, running just to keep an eye on her was a little moisture producing. She decided to go in someone's backyard and climb that hill, where she found some lovely barking dogs. This slowed her down just a tad, long enough for me to climb this hill on my hands and knees and have her run down the hill and watch me crawl back down it. Then she was off again, but this time towards home and downhill. She stopped long enough for me to catch up with her and I am pretty sure if I had gone towards her she would have taken off, so I sat on the curb. She came up next to me but just far enough so I could not reach out and grab her, when I got up she took off. She came to a road and I yelled stop and stay. She must have been tired because she actually listened. I was able to catch her. My dismay came when I realized I would have to carry her 4 blocks because I forgot the leash and my cell phone. 30 pounds is not fun to carry downhill, luckily not uphill. Husband passed by without seeing me, I was behind a tree apparently. Both Kai and I were a little exhausted from our run/walk. Hopefully, this will not happen again anytime soon.
5. Today she is playing with a monkey I bought her. She loves to throw it up in the air and catch it. I did not get her out this morning for a walk, I hope I can get her out this evening.

I will keep you posted.

Kai and children

We live near and elementary school and since Kai was 5 months old she has greeted the children through the fence. She sits and waits for them to go to and from school, that is on the mornings she decides to get up by 7:30. If she is not fence the children call her name and I have been asked on several occasions where Kai has been. She has also met up with children in the street and I have taught her on most occasions to sit or at least not jump on the kids. But I have never really had a child younger than 10 in the yard, so I was a little skeptical when a mom whose older kids were weeding my garden also left her 5 year old. But I need not have worried  because they became fast friends and Kai did something with that boy that I have never seen her do with the adults. When we play with Kai she gets her favorite toy, a Kong with fabric and strips hanging down, after a lively tug and war she releases it. When we throw it she brings it back, but again we have to play tug of war. When Kai plays tug of war she really swings her head and on many occasions I have had to drop the toy because she jerks my arm. So when the child picked up the toy I was ready for Kai to grab it and tug to roughly, but she didn't do it. She would touch the toy with her teeth gently and then back away, releasing the toy. She did this the whole time the child had the toy. I was very proud of my Kai for being so gentle.

Aping my husband

Kai has a favorite chair in the living room, and yes I know that you are not suppose to let dogs on the furniture, she likes to curl up in it while I am reading in the chair across from her. My husband has a favorite chair in the TV room, one that I bought for his birthday. When anyone sits in my husbands chair he looks at them until they move. Yesterday, I flopped down in the Kai chair to read the mail, and Kai came in the room. First she went to my usual chair and looked at it, then she looked at me, tilted her head, looked at my chair, then back to her chair. I could almost hear the what do you think you are doing wheels churning in her head. So I got up and moved to my usual chair, where Kai promptly jumped up into the chair I just vacated. Very much my husbands move. You got to love both human and dog.

Love

My Kai has calmed down considerably from the first time we brought her home. My daughter who just got back from England noticed it immediately as she no longer performed the noddle, wiggle dance while sitting in your lap. Kai is definitely a love bug. She would never let you hold her without wiggling, but since my son has been home,  she allows him to pick her up and cuddle. Yesterday she dissolved into his shoulder and stayed put, something that would have her lunging for the floor before. My daughter sat on the couch the other day and even though Kai likes the TV couch for herself, she jumped up to a place that was snug just to be close to her. Kai also worries about us when we are gone, you can hear it in her woeful bark when she sees us, I still think it sounds like "Where were you?" She is our little love bug and I am glad we were fortunate enough to find such a loving dog tucked up in rescue facility in a remote part of Virginia/West Virginia.

She knows

I have to travel once again, which means placing my pup at her favorite boarding spot. But she is moping around and has decided while I sit here typing to stand by my legs. I am on a stool, so her back fits perfectly under my legs. She is also looking at me with some very soulful eyes and sighing. She must have seen my bag or her bag sitting by the door filled with her food. How do they know? My Boston used to do the same thing when we were traveling. I will have to find some special treat while I am away and spend the first few days when I get back with a lot of puppy attention. Wish I could take her with me but it is a long drive and she is not the savviest car puppy. Maybe one day she will be able to travel with us.

Still Chewing

 I thought Kai was past the chewing things up stage, but last night I was corrected on that piece of information. Kai came into the TV room last night with goo on her face. We could not figure out where it came from, so I did a search of the house. Well, let me just say I found out where the gelatin came from. To understand you have to know that I am a breast cancer survivor, and that I elected to have a mastectomy but not reconstructive surgery. I use a prosthesis on my right side. I have several forms, one in which I use for swimming. I had place this on my bed as I packed for going out of town. Kai apparently felt that she needed to see what this thing was, so she chewed around the edges. I am thankful to be a girl scout and always prepared, because I had bought two of them, not cheap but you never know what can happen.

Today Kai was watching me fold laundry and had decided to jump on the bed. I am thinking what a good girl she is nestled up next to my husbands jeans. But I noticed that her jaw line was moving. She had one of the belt loops and was casually chewing it while I folded the laundry. If I had not noticed that little flick of her jaw, my husbands loop would be completely gone. I guess she is bored. I am getting ready to board her again, so maybe she will get some of her boredom to go away. I will give her a long walk tonight, unless we get a thunderstorm.

I guess I am going to go back to locking doors to keep Little Miss Mouth away from things. SO far she has left my shoes alone.

Walking between the raindrops

I do not like to walk in thunderstorms and luckily today I did not have to. I was debating around 9 to take Kai for a walk before it started to rain, by 9:10 we were having a lovely thunderstorm. Since they called for storms all day, I was wondering what I was going to do with a 30 LB sock thief all day. She started out with socks, when the chase did not happen as fast as she wanted, she found a new source. A toilet paper roll that had not been placed on the holder yet. It was big enough and squishy enough that she grabbed and started heading for the back door. But when I got to the back door she had placed it in her crate. I guess she thought I would not be able to get to it, BAHAHA, but I did and she looked at me with her big brown eyes, but I did not fold. Then she disappeared for a bit to go get a shoe. Crud, if she is in shoe phase I am in a world of hurt. So it was 10:00 am the sun was not out, but no thunder, no rain, quickly got on my shoes, raincoat and grabbed the leash. 42 minutes later we were home and Kai is somewhat tuckered out. I will play a rousing game of fetch the monkey in a bit, but now she is content to lay down so I will hold that energy buster for later. Maybe I will work on her training. Hopefully, this other rainstorm coming through will be over just as quickly as the first and we will get that second walk in this afternoon. Anything to save the shoes.

Speak to your Mother

Today Kai was pestering my husband for food. He had not even sat down yet and she was all over him. I think it was just in greeting, she loves her adopted daddy. So he says to her I do not have any bacon, if you want bacon talk to your mother. Kai turns around and goes WOOWOOWOO. Like she is chastising me for not having any bacon for her. It was perfect timing to my husbands request, and the fact that she actually turned to me after was super funny. Love this dog.

Rain rain go away

We are still experiencing rain, after yesterday and last nights thunderstorms. I am hoping that it goes away soon. Kai does not like to play in the rain and I do not like to walk in the pouring rain, drizzle yes, but not downpour. So Kai is only going out when she has to use the bathroom and just relaxing, which is why I am able to write. Unfortunately she left her new monkey and rabbit in the rain. I may have to grab them and put them in the dryer to get some of the moisture out so we can play in the house. If I do not do that I am afraid my socks will go bye, bye. So please rain go away for at least an hour so I can take my poor puppy for a walk.

Bees

My husband and daughter wanted to put beehives in the backyard, not my favorite idea. Last year they were pretty much trying to take care of the hive, get the queen settled and building up the boxes. This year they have become protective of the hive. I have been stung twice, my husband twice and now poor Kai has been stung at least twice. Two times in the last two days. My husband put the bees in her barking spot at the fence. HE will be moving it soon to the other side of the yard, where he put the second hive, newly established so they are not aggressive yet. But, the bees now consider this their place, so every time Kai goes up their they chase her. I am hoping that she learns soon not to go near the hives. I may have to place a small gate when my husband moves the hive, so Kai cannot get too close, she will not stand a chance with two hives together and barking at her usual spots. Too many bees.

Great Day for the Dog Park

Not her usual friends at the dog park today, but she had fun running around and hiding sometimes from the other dogs. Wore her out so that when we came home she found a nice shady spot to relax. We did not get a chance to walk yesterday so it was a good treat for her to play with other dogs.

Crazy weather

Yesterday was so crazy, we started off with rain and about 60+ degrees, Kai and I were able to get a walk in between rain showers, though it was just a little one only .8 miles. Then is got darker and darker, rain became heavier, winds picked up and temperature dropped so that by mid afternoon it was in the 40's. Kai does not like the rain so she was not able to enjoy the outside. She loves being outside and wants me to spend time with her. She does not care if we play, she just wants me out there. But not yesterday, we had to play indoors, which meant that she would find a sock, I do not know how she finds them, and then run around the house so I will chase her. So she had a pretty boring day yesterday. Today, she woke up feisty, the temperature was in the 30's but no rain. We went for our walk, came home and then I left to go exercise. When I got home, I also went grocery shopping, she followed me inside a little reluctantly until I pulled out the pigs ear I bought her. But that did not stop her from getting into my room finding a sock and hightailing it to the door. Luckily, the door was shut, I pulled out another treat and she dropped the sock and pushed it to me with her nose. She is a little crazy girl. I have trained her, unfortunately, to grab socks for a treat. Who has the bigger brain? Soon I will have trouble keeping her inside so I am quite happy to have my shadow for a little longer.

Ticks

I hate ticks. There is nothing like scratching your dog behind the ears and finding a bump. You hope beyond hope that she rolled in something that got stuck to her fur, but the fur is not matted. Then your next thought is maybe it is a sore, you really do not want to think tick. But, alas, it was a tick. I asked my husband for help, I do not know what I need to do to get a tick off a dog. My response, "yeah, right". But he looks it up, so maybe not. We clean off the island in our kitchen armed with tweezers, antiseptic spray, my husband places Kai on the countertop, grabs the tweezers and pulls straight back the first time, that little bugger is stuck fast. I pull back the fur a little more, in again, yank, tick comes out this time. We have also filled a small bottle with alcohol, so that we can place the tick inside, and recap. Then I spray the area with an antiseptic that the vet had given me for a rash the dog had about two weeks ago. Lucky us. So the rest of this week I will monitor the dog for ticks and any behaviors associated with lyme or leptospirosis. I was hoping that all the ticks would have died with the harsh weather, but no. She may have gotten it at her boarding place, since it is in the woods, but who knows. It was time for her flea and tick medicine, so I gave that to her last night and hopefully we will not have anymore ticks this season.

AWAY

Okay, I know this is probably not very charitable, but I do love being away from caring for animals. I am on 24/7 at home. I have someone watching my other animals, but Kai has been boarded. She is having a good time I am sure, she did not even look back my way. I felt like the boy in THE LIFE OF PI, when the tiger goes and disappears into the woods without looking back. The last time I picked her up, she ran to me but, then ran back to get her playmates. I do miss her, but I know how much she likes to play with other dogs, so I know she is happier than being penned all day long waiting for someone to take her for a walk.

Bees

My husband is raising bees and I think that Kai got stung a couple of days ago. She has a red spot underneath her front leg. It looks nasty so I gave her Benadryl and an antiseptic. I think she will be okay, she still runs around like crazy and it does not seem to bother her too much. I am taking her to be boarded for a couple of days, if there is a problem they will let me know.

GOOD MORNING

The morning routine if my husband is the last one up and it is getting towards 9 am is to release the hound. Kai loves to jump on the bed and wake my husband up. Today they played a game of hide and seek. My husband hid under the covers and poked is hand out and Kai would try to catch it and he would pull it back in. Then Kai would pat the top of the covers looking for him. They must have repeated this over and over again. Then he pulled up the covers near his face and Kai stuck her nose in, just as she got her head in he shut the covers and she would back out and woof at him. What a great way to start the morning. Kai loves my husband, wherever he goes she follows, especially outside. Kai is like his shadow. They play chase, throw the ball, it is so much fun to watch. The other morning Kai would not get out of her crate. It was not until my husband walked into the room that she moved. I feel so unloved. Well, I cannot be too jealous because I have Kai everyday, every hour. She is full of shenanigans and though sometimes she is just too rambunctious, most of the time she is my loving companion. I hope your morning has been as fun as mine.

WHAT ARE YOU?

Kai and I have been walking between 1 t 2 miles for the last few weeks. Usually we hit around 1.75 on three days, 2 at least once then the others depend on what I am doing. This week as we were going on our walk we had two basset hounds ahead of us. Very big dogs, one friendly and one a little more barky. They had stopped at the corner, I was leery of coming up on them because I did not want them to pull their owner, but what I saw made me laugh, a little cat was purring around the dogs' legs. I thought that cat is going to get chomped, but know the dogs just stood there. I took Kai across the street because I did not know how she would handle a cat and 2 dogs. Yesterday we were finishing up a 1.8 mile walk when we crossed the corner that the above had happened. We were sitting there waiting to cross when the same kitty came up and started getting near Kai. Kai's ears went up and she backed away, then she would go forward. At one point they were nose to nose. Kai had no clue what this thing was, she was curious, but I wanted to finish the walk and I did not want kitty to chase us into the street. Once Kai crossed the street, we looked back and there was the cat sitting very prettily at the end of the sidewalk watching us walk away. Then she turned and went about her business. Very cool cat.

Spring Break Over

Kai once again is boyless, she has been run around, chased down and had lots of fun playing with her boy. Now it is just her and me. Unfortunately, it has decided to be nasty weather, so I have not taken her on a walk yet, that means mischief is afoot. Several socks have appeared out of nowhere causing me to chase her down and give her treats to release. Is this really a good precedent to set, you release a sock you get a treat. Me thinks not, but I am tired of having holes in the toes of my sock, so she gets exercise, I get exercise and on a snowy day that is a good thing, I think.

VET DAY

Kai has been at the vet two days in a row. The first day she was in because she had this horrible cough like she had something stuck in her throat or she was about to throw up, nothing came out that evening so we took her to the vet. He thinks she may have irritated her throat somehow, probably from tearing up my house that day. Anything that looked like paper was in her mouth. Who knows what else she munched on outside. She was in rare form. Then today we had to go back for her annual check-up. More shots and she is rather po'd at me, however she does have most of her energy back. She is eating which she did not do yesterday morning and she much rather be outside then stuck next to me like she was yesterday. We even went for a two mile walk today. I might even get another one in a few minutes, but not two miles, more like 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile. Now that it is Spring I am hoping to get a long and short walk in per day. This will certainly help with the chewing of the household. She also has some sort of rash again on her back legs so, I have to give her benedryl and spray her haunches with an antiseptic. She keeps licking the area and is going to cause an infection. I just hope I can keep the dirt out. So I am off, hopefully Kai will keep getting better and my papers will stay intact. Love having a dog.

1 YEAR

We have had our puppy for 1 year. What changes have come about since we first got her? Well she is now about 35 pounds, and about up to my knee. She has taken up the art of barking, begging and snuggling. She trusts me except when she hears the tub running. We now play a modified game of fetch in the house, though when Kai brings it back she may or may not release it. She does however bring it back. My husband no longer scares her and they love to play chase inside and outside the house. I still cannot let her off the leash outside of the gate. She comes when called especially when I have treats, but again if she has escaped the yard all bets are off. The children who pass by still love her, as do we. She can catch a toy in the air and gets really happy when I clap and praise her. Though there are still some dogs that make her hackles rise, she likes other dogs and plays well at the dog park. So Happy Anniversary to my Kai pie.

UGH ANOTHER SNOW DAY

I love snow and usually Kai loves snow, but maybe she is tired of it too, because she does not want to go out in it and neither do I. We have played several versions of catch, chase and scream. I am trying to do laundry and write today. I also have to clean. Which means that Kai is helping me by stealing my socks and having me chase her. She even helped me empty the dryer by grabbing a clean sock. This results in me screaming and chasing. A fun time for Kai but does not help me get things sorted. In addition to the occasional sock she has stolen a shoe insert. I do not know what shoe it came out of, but I know that it is mine and destroyed. I did manage to get her to go out to do her business, but unless she sees a squirrel or a chipmunk, she refuses to go out. Last snow, the 20 inch one, I could not keep her inside, she must not like the feel of this one. Maybe when the snow stops she will go out. Of course, yesterday it was 67 degrees and she would not come inside, so maybe she is just tired of being out in nature. Or just tired in general from running around outside all day yesterday.

Worn Out

Windy cold, no affect on my dog, since she is lower to the ground. However, I was cold and ended up with the wind in my face. This did not stop us from walking 2.15 miles, it did stop me from letting her nose everything on the ground. When we got back from our walk she decided she was not tired enough and ran around the backyard several times at top speeds, then she wanted to play catch. I wanted to go in for coffee, but played a few games of fetch or tug o war with her. Now she is curled up on a chair completely out of it. She is in a dream state because every once and awhile she lets out a low growl. Who knows what is going on in her brain. Yesterday we did a short walk because it was too darn cold, which is why we did our long walk today. I am glad we are getting exercise because I do not want a walking table. That is what my mom's dog looked like, always feeding never exercising. This Spring I am hoping to do two walks, one in the morning will be out long walk and the one in the evening will be short. With daylight savings she is going to want to be outside all the time, she loves it out there. Hopefully, we will also be able to go to the dog park again, too cold though I hate that she is not meeting up with other dogs. Worn out is what we are going for, so that I do not feel bad when I have to leave her, I know she will get rest while I am gone. When I can sit and write without her asking me to play, this is a good thing. Though I would gladly stop and play a round of tug-o-war.

Nibbles

Kai has a new way to let us know that she wants our food since I told my husband that he was not allowed to feed her from the table. She used to lay her head on the table and cock it and look at him with her big brown eyes. He would laugh and gladly feed her a tidbit, he could not help himself. But since I scolded him, he has not been swayed by those big brown eyes, as much. So now she has taken to nibbling his elbows. It used to be a push with her nose, now the nibbles happen. Just little nips. I said you better not reinforce this behavior or she will be nibbling guests. She tried it with me but it usually does not get her what she wants. THe only thing she likes to nibble on me is my socks, unfortunately my toes are in them. I think she thinks I am a dog and she is trying to clean my feet like I do hers, I do not nibble my dogs feet. But she thinks my hands are mouths. This may be my fault because I bark at her using my hands. So I need to be careful as well. I have to nip the nibbles or she will try to nibble the children's fingers outside the fence. This will be misconstrued as a bite, I am almost positive and that would not be optimal. So I have enlisted the aid of a new weapon. Nibbles equal squirts. Will she even no why, probably not, but it may be just the negative reinforcement she needs. I do love to spoil her.

New leash

I am going to try something new today with Kai on our walk, a retractable leash. I tried this when I was doing obedience training with her but I think that I am not very facile with it. I am going to try it in the back yard and then out around our block. My fear is that I will not lock it in time, or be able to pull her back. We have lots of streets to cross when we do our walk around the neighborhood. I will let you know how it goes, it may be the most expensive non-used item. If I do not succeed I will donate it to a rescue shelter. Need my coffee first and a little bit warmer, before attempting.

Towels

There are a few things that Kai has always been afraid of, but her most feared thing is a towel. Or maybe it is just having something on her back, or covering her. But this snow caused two things to happen: one is that she does not mind having something warm on her back and two she likes to be toweled off when coming indoors. I tried this several times before wiping her down after a bath or rain only to have her run at top speed away from me, shaking her wet dog body all over the house and rolling on my carpets. Can anyone say, yuck, wet dog smell? But coming in out of the snow, the first time she tolerated it for a few seconds. The second time the snow was up to her back she actually went to the towel for me to dry her off. I guess she was cold. Then the other day I took her nice warm blanket out of the dryer, she usually hangs her head, puts her ears down and tugs it off, but this time she walked around with it on her back, no droopy ears, not hung head. She also let me cuddle with her in the evening and let me put a blanket on her while we watched TV. This may be a snow only event but it is the step in the right direction. Maybe I will be able to keep from having dog smell carpets.

SNOW SNOW MOUNDS OF SNOW

Well, so far so good, Kai has not figured out she can jump the fence. I am hoping for a little more compression today so that it is too high again to jump. I have tried to take her out at least two times a day on her leash. What I really should do is hook her up to a sled and let her pull me around. My main fear is falling on the icy bits. Luckily, the streets have space to walk and the cars usually wait until I move into a snow bank to go by me. I love plowed roads but trying to get over the mountain of snow is a bit cumbersome with a dog. Kai absolutely loves the snow and she will just run around and around when I am out there watching her. It is a might chilly when the wind blows but sunshine today should help things in the melting department and Kai and I can get a little more comfortable with our walks. SO what does a dog do when trying to get energy out, find my shoes. This is so that I will chase her, she usually walks up to me shoe in mouth and drops it. Then when I go to pick it up she grabs it and runs. She used to just eat it and then I would come across a half eaten shoe, the inserts apparently are the best, or the shoelaces. The other thing we do is play fetch in the house. She is working on her catching in the air. It depends on which ball she brings me as to how this goes. The one with the knubbies not so much, but the other one she usually gets on the second bounce. Games we play to keep our puppies happy. Yesterday my husband had her out at 6 am, while he let me sleep. He was shoveling out his car and Kai was running around the backyard. I got up because it felt a tad bit chillier in the house and Kai had let herself back in. She then followed me to my bedroom, jumped on the bed with me and fell asleep. I was too tired to move her so I let her stay. When I got up she remained in the bed. It is the first time I let her in bed with me, and she laid at my feet, which was nice, kept them warmer. Last night when I put on my PJ's, she jumped up on the bed looked at me and looked puzzled that I was not getting into bed. I did not let her sleep with us but put her in her crate. This morning as soon as she got up, and I opened the crate door, she got out and went to stand by my bedroom door. Again, looking at me with those big brown eyes, wondering why we were not returning to bed. I think that I may have encouraged a bad habit. Happy snow days, we will get back to a routine soon I hope.

Bigger and better snow

I thought I had figured out how to send my video of Kai playing the snow, but I have not. It is on my Facebook page but when I try to transfer it to my email so I can put it in my pictures, so that I can transfer it to here, well I fall flat into a snow bank. My only fear with too much snow, and I think anything above three inches is too much snow, is that the dog will figure out how to run and jump over the fence. She is close to doing that now, but she has not figured out how to catapult herself with her front feet. I have seen her do a round-about on the ground, so I am pretty sure that she could pull it off. That would not be good with snow on the ground as she would have no scents perception. She already does not have any sense. But she does love the snow and she is just as fast in it as she is with dry ground. The powder is fun to watch as it flies up behind her. She comes in with snow mounded on top of her nose and sprinkles on her back. Maybe she is trying to plow the sidewalks for me. Now that would be a trick. We had a quiet few hours where I was able to put chili in the crockpot and read a book that is already overdue at the library. I still have about 200+ pages to read in this 700+ page book and I have renewed it my maximum, so I was glad Kai was having a hibernation period. However, she has awoken and is now in terrorist phase. I have sent her outside and she is content to run back and forth a couple of times but comes back in. Then she went into my side room, grabbed a couple of things off a desk and has preceded to play lets tear things up. She is now looking in all the cubby holes trying to find something to chew. I better finish this so I can direct her away from all that is not hers.

Vet check

I needed to get Kai her heart, flea and tick meds today but also set up an appointment for a rash I noticed on her belly/flank area. The vet seems to think that she may have licked her belly too much and caused it to dry and crack, especially with the cold weather. But why is she licking so much, Vet seems to think that it may be allergies. But now she may also have an infection from licking. So antibiotic and an antiseptic I think. I do not want to use that collar that would make her look like a radar dish, but if I have to then be prepared for transmissions from outer space. She was a little obnoxious at the vet, growling at other dogs, I was not happy. Sorry if the above paragraph seems somewhat disjointed, Kai wanted to play tug-o-war, so I did. She loves this dumbbell looking toy. It is plastic and used to have a squeaky that worked but now it is not functioning. Anyway, she usually starts with her mouth dead center on the toy and when I cannot get it out of her mouth, she manipulates it until she has an end and I have an end. Then we play. If I win I make her sit and I throw it. If she wins she runs around the house a couple of times and then comes back for more tug-o-war. I think she is tired, before tug-o-war she was grabbing socks from my room and the laundry room. I have to give her a treat to get them back. She is now crashed at my feet. Maybe she needed to burn just a little more energy before settling down.

Not a peaceful walk

For some reason I am now calling my dog Kai Pie when I call her. I am trying to do anything to sound upbeat so that she will listen to me. This week my husband was off work and we have been doing lots of things, but I still try to get a walk in with Kai, so we went to a place that I have seen near a library that has a boardwalk over a swamp like area. My husband wanted to try out his camera and I thought it would be a good place to walk the dog, as I usually never see other people on this walkway. Well there were a lot of new and unusual smells for this dog of mine and she just wanted to explore but we were on a boardwalk. Now it was not far down and maybe you are already getting a sense of what I am going to say, but I will tell the saga anyway. We had walked all the way to the other end of the board walk when Kai started looking over the edge and I had a feeling she was going to jump in. So I moved to the middle of the walkway. She did this several times look over the edge, and I managed to pull her back. The last time she did not hesitate, she just jumped. All I could think was I hope it is to cold for reptiles. She has never jumped in anything that remotely looked like water. The horrible thing is that though the boardwalk is not that far off the ground it was high enough for her to crawl under which I tried very hard to not let that happen. My husband tried to pull her up but she was being a brat and ducking his attempts. I had to be a brute, I could not pull her up without choking her, so I looked for a place that she would be forced to walk back up on the walkway, this was behind us so I pulled her through the muck and weeds and brought her back to the boardwalk, shortened her leash and stayed away from the edge. We finally made it back to the place we started where my husband promptly fell which had Kai run back to him to help him up. I forgave her, checked for ticks and realized I would never take her to Yellowstone National Park. I had heard horror stories about people taking their dogs there only to have them jump into the hot water. I now think Kai would do this no matter how bad the water smelled. I am going to have to think about our walking places, it maybe that she has to be content with around the neighborhood.

Wild Week

So I have told you that my dog loves snow, and we had enough last week that she was very content to run around and around outside. In fact, unlike with rain, it is very hard to get her in the house. Also, I left the door unlocked in case she was too cold and needed to come inside. That only meant that she kept the door open, trying to get me to go outside with her. I did take her on a walk after I figured out what sidewalks were devoid of snow and ice. Couple of close ground encounters, but I managed to stay upright this time. Kai managed not to pull me off my feet. Then boom the snow is all but gone. It was another brief encounter with the fluffy stuff. When it is just cold out with no snow she is content to stay inside. Okay, content is the wrong word, she stays inside an once again becomes the Godzilla of the household. I was a little frightened when my bird took off in the house. Kai usually chases the birds outside because I think she like to watch them fly, but she inspects the bird inside occasionally but when she hears her fly she likes to follow. So here I am listening to the bird take flight, Kai's ears perk up and she is off. I am muttering curses under my breath and get to the bird before Kai and try to get Binx to step-up. Kai keeps poking her head over my arms which causes Binx to fly again. This time I do not see where Binx goes but Kai has a general opinion, first she looks behind the plant stand but no Binx. Then Kai looks behind the dining room chair, she goes pokes her head on one side and Binx comes out the other. I am standing there thinking what is going to happen next. But Kai just stands there and watches the bird, she does not charge or try to eat her, just watches. This allows me to bend down and get Binx to step-up. Maybe Kai will not think that this bird is one to chase. I am glad that catastrophe was averted. Kai was able to get some energy out this weekend, she was up at the Bigger Brain, while we were having a weekend get-away for our anniversary. I am told that she had a buddy that she played with the entire weekend. That they would go to each others crates and ask for them to be let out and then play, play, play. I am so glad she has such a fun time at the kennel. I am hoping that this week is good weather wise so I can get her out and maybe over to the dog park when it dries out some. Nothing like cold weather to put a dog in the mood to destroy, but Kai has been tired today from her weekend and she has not even felt like chasing the squirrels. The squirrels should be happy. She is outside now and the sun is shining so, maybe my chairs and walls will survive.

Runaway Dog Again

This is the third time my dog has run away in less then 6 months. This time my husband was out playing catch with her when her ball rolled under the fence. He decided to go get the ball and unlatched the gate, Kai is nothing but clever and knows when a novice is around. She was out the gate in a flash. I learned this later. I had been checking e-mails when my husband said the dog is out. I thought he was telling me she was outside not outside of the gate, so I continued to check e-mails. It dawned on me that I had not heard them for awhile so I went to check, no husband, no Kai. I grabbed a leash and started yelling. Now Kai is as stubborn as the Boston mix she is when it comes to getting her to come to you, once she has gained freedom. My husband pulled up next to me in the truck and said he was going to go up the hill to get in. But I knew that I needed to be on foot. While I was walking through an alley, a friend said that her family had Kai cornered at their house, but we saw her on the corner and I called to her. She came to me but realized I had the leash and took off again. UGH. Across a busy street where she almost got hit. I have been told that if you stop chasing them, they will come to you. To that I say HAH. This dog does not play that game, nor does she come to you if you sit down, say you have treats or any of the other things dog trainers tell you to do. If you use a stern voice that just makes her run faster. She is very fast. So after I sat down, pretended to have sweets, turned my back on her, she preceded to run back across the street, in front of a white truck and almost got hit again. So do you yell, stop to the dog as they are in the street, I did not because I thought she might stop in front of the truck. Finally, I crossed the street and Kai had walked into a place that was blocked. At first she tried to get around me, but I uttered the word BALL and she came to me. She was not happy when I put the leash on her and less happy when my husband pulled up and I put her in the back of the Explorer. When we got home it was into the crate. Jim and I let her stay there while we went out. So she got plenty of exercise, because before she ran away and had us chase her for 30 minutes, she had gone on a 20 minute walk and played ball with my husband. She needed a time out and so did we. Today, I am working on come and stay and sit. We went for a long walk and at each corner I made her sit. I love this dog tremendously and would hate for her to get lost, or worse get hit. I really miss my Boston on days like that, she loved being inside, unless she escaped through the front door. Then is was a simple word that got her back into the house, CHEESE. I need to find a trigger word for Kai because it does not seem any of the tried and true commands work.

Out of the Crate

Usually when I go somewhere, and the weather is bad I put Kai in her crate. She uses this time to take a nap. Today I decided to see how she would do if I left her in the kitchen without being penned up. I thought like a dog and moved everything away from the edges, took all breakables and put them away, removed hats, gloves and shoes, moved the chairs away from the table and hung placed the hanging curtain out of reach. When I went to leave I grabbed my purse and she headed to the crate, but I did not lock her in. She looked confused but went in her crate anyway. When I walked out the door she stuck her nose out of the crate but did not leave it. 1 1/2 hours later I came home, no pee, no poo and no torn up things, she passed the test. The only thing she did was to move her bed closer to the gate that blocked her from the rest of the living area. Now I may have interrupted her thinking up and escape plan but I was very happy that she kept the place in tact. I am not sure how long things would last if it were longer, but we will build on that time to see how she does. Of course with her not in her crate the bird definitely will need to be in her cage, sometimes I forget. A new cornerstone, even if it was only once. Of course, she immediately ate a mechanical pencil when I released her from the kitchen. One step forward, one step back.

Snow dog

I remember when we first got Kai it was a cold March weekend and snow was blowing everywhere. My husband said you need to take this dog now because we would not be driving back. How could I leave her after she gave me hugs and kisses? We brought her home and she was a little frightened, but she has acclimated quite nicely. She hates rain but loves snow, maybe it was where she was kept in western Virginia. But she loves being out in the snow. Tuesday we had our first snow. It wasn't much, just an inch, maybe, but she was out running around that evening. I took a video and all you could see was a black dog flying past the outdoor light and then nothing. She blended so well with the dark. We call her our little ninja because she can be on you in the dark and you cannot even see her. The next morning she was outside again playing in the snow, throwing a sock, a shoe or a ball in the air and chasing it. She would stop every once and awhile just to stick her nose in the snow. I also took video of this, but I am not sure how to post it here, but I will try and figure it out. I am glad she loves the snow, because I can let her out and she enjoys herself. In the rain I have to entertain her almost every second. Or suffer the consequences of her eating anything she can get her mouth on. Yeah snow, Yeah Kai.

Back to the dog park

We finally went back to the dog park, after months of not wanting to freeze. Kai was a little shy at first, but then started to warm up. Just like a kid having too much fun, it was hard to get her to leave after 1 1/2 hours. Then we came home and went for a walk. It is 4:30 and she is asleep. She did not even bother me when I started pulling out the chicken so I could fix dinner. I am thinking that I need to take a break from the house everyday for an hour just to wear her out. I am too boring, and can not play with her every minute of the day. We left after she started getting up in dog's faces. she wanted to play but I saw her hackles rise up and I am not sure why. There were 10 dogs at any given time while we were there. More and more people kept showing up with dogs. The dogs already in the fence would all rush toward the gate for butt sniffing. Which of course make the other dog get defensive. For the most part Kai hung back in this scenario waiting for the dog to get approved by the other dogs before engaging. There was one dog and I am not sure why but she ran immediately to the dog and tried to greet the dog, but this called the dog to start growling. Usually Kai backs off but she just kept trying to get her to play. Well we are both tired and now I must stop writing and start cooking. Tomorrow is another day and I hope the sun is shining, Kai definitely needs the exercise and she does not have my son to run with around the block. Stupid college gets in the way of fun play.

Sad puppy 1/10/2014

I have a sad dog, Kai is very much missing her boy. For the past several weeks whenever she wanted to play she would run upstairs, go into my son's room and steal something so that he would chase her. Or she would run up to his room, jump on him and bark. Then she would run all over his bed, which meant she stepped on his head, back, stomach, etc. He would finally get up and kick her out of his room, then she would again grab something and make a run for it. I am not as fun. I play but I do not run all over the back yard chasing her, just a little. I do not take her for long runs on her leash. I take her for long walks. So yesterday while my son was packing up things Kai was lying on her cushion watching him. She would not get up and she did not follow me into the TV room for our usual cuddle session. Today, she is still moping, though she did get my son up and she had a little race time with him. It is raining and I do not walk in the cold rain anymore, since I fell. I have played wrestle mania with Kai but she keeps looking up the stairs expecting the boy to come down them. Poor sad puppy. Currently she is on a terrorist binge of grabbing things that she knows are a no so that I will chase her around the house. I have managed to wrestle, plastic, toilet paper rolls and a pen from her grasp. This usually entails bribery. I am hoping the weather breaks so I can get at least a small walk, need the rain, prefer snow in the winter, but really would welcome a little exercise. I am sure Kai feels the same way. There is always tomorrow.

New Year

Kai has now been with us for 10 months and is now 15 months old. Wow time certainly does fly by quickly. She has grown in many ways but is not too big. She still has trust issues especially when it comes to men. The other day my daughter had a friend over who Kai seemed to like, that is until he decided to fall down the steps. This scared Kai so much that for the rest of the day she barked at him. When he went to leave she walked him out the door and then stood in front of the back door. I think that she would not have let him back in if he had come back. Noises, blankets and quick movements still make her jump. She was only 5 months old when we got her something drastic must have happened to cause her to still be so skittish. On a positive note she is such a joy to watch, if no one plays with her she makes her own fun. She hates being left by herself and is always full of enthusiasm when we walk in the door, she is still not allowed the run of the house. When we leave she is either in the back yard or in her crate. Even when I leave to go to another part of the house she finds something to tear up, even if it is a receipt of the table. One day I hope that we can leave her in the kitchen without finding a disaster, maybe this year. She is such a loving dog and I really love that we got her. She has started playing catch a little better. We gave her a ball that she can drop more easily, on cold days I roll the ball in the house and she runs and gets it and brings it back to me. Outside she still has to remember to come back and she is a little more reluctant to release the ball. I am not sure why but we are making progress, albeit slow. New Year new adventures, and hopefully I will be able to get her out on a walk more often after I finish recuperating after that last fall. Was able to get her for a short walk and then she wanted to play, I think that will be my new goal for when we can not walk a long time, short walk and then play fetch. Plus I need to get her back to the dog park for socialization as she has started really being obnoxious when it comes to dogs passing the gate. She sounds vicious but she really just wants to play. She needs a buddy, besides me.